'To Kill a Mockingbird' continues to inspire young writers

Friday

Feb 1, 2013 at 3:12 PM

When a Pulitzer Prize winning writer tells a group of high school students that they are the largest collection of “outstanding writers” he will see all year, people take notice. None more so, perhaps, than 18-year-old Austin Ward, who was selected as the 2013 winner of the To Kill a Mockingbird High School Essay Contest by the University of Alabama Honors College.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Rick Bragg on Friday told a group of high school students that they are the largest collection of outstanding writers he will see all year.Included in that group was 18-year-old Austin Ward, who was selected as the 2013 winner of the To Kill a Mockingbird High School Essay Contest by the University of Alabama Honors College.The contest asks students to focus on an element of the iconic 1959 novel by Harper Lee of Monroeville, the only novel she ever published. The winning writer, along with his or her school, each receive $500.Ward was chosen from among 63 other essayists, each of whom won his or her respective high school's contest to earn a trip to the Capstone for the annual luncheon and awards presentation.For the fourth consecutive year, Bragg, an author, professor and former newspaper reporter, gave the keynote speech.Bragg praised the efforts of each student in the room and implored them to embrace the power of the written word."Whether you know it or not, you have the power — the incredible power — to affect the lives of so many people around you," Bragg told the banquet's first overflow crowd since its 2002 inception. "You can make people feel better about being alive."That's the greatest power I know."Bragg commended each of the young authors on winning what is likely the first writing award for many of them. He told them to continue to strive for more."It is a pleasure to welcome you into the fraternity of award-winning writers," said Bragg, who has won more than 70 awards — including the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing — in his career. "Keep writing. Keep writing better than the person next to you. And keep entering contests, keep winning awards. Build a pyramid of them."Starting his pyramid is Ward, a student at Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City. Ward's essay focused on the innocence and tolerance of Scout Finch, the book's protagonist and narrator."She wasn't biased," Ward said. "She saw things for what they were, rather than how the other people of the town, who believed what they wanted to believe. "She wasn't like the rest of the town because of dad and her innocence."After the ceremony, Bragg compared the book to the lemon juice and sugary additives his grandmother would mix in to the white whiskey that served as cough medicine for children growing up in rural Alabama.In "To Kill a Mockingbird," Lee uses the eyes of a child to show the unfairness and evil of judging people based solely on the color of their skin.Facing this reality was something that many in this state were not ready for when the book was first published more than 50 years ago."(‘To Kill a Mockingbird') was that peppermint and lemon that helped it go down," Bragg said.Local students were among those who won their respective high schools' contests and received an invitation to the luncheon.Nate Craft, a 17-year-old student at Brookwood High School, said he enjoys writing and took the essay contest as a challenge and a way to express his thoughts.He said he appreciated how Lee attacked the societal cancer of racism with weapons of compassion and hope.His essay, he said, referenced the community's acceptance of single parenthood, something uncommon to that era."Harper Lee, she took a different approach, but she was still very impactful," Craft said. "I think what she wrote and how she wrote it still has an impact today, and it gives us hope for a brighter future. "We can still find something that relates between us."Northridge High School student Nick Fairbairn, 17, said he read "To Kill a Mockingbird" for the third time in order to prepare for his essay that focused on the parenting skills of Atticus Finch, Scout's single father and a central figure in the story."I thought that his values throughout the book were timeless," Fairbairn said.And when asked why someone who has never read the book should give it a try, Fairbairn said he believed that reading Lee's novel is critical to every person born or raised in this region of the country."It's a story that symbolizes the Southern childhood from all ages," he said. "It's a story about growing up and coming of age that both children and adults can relate to."